shalt die Have not Thousands and Thousands hoped so and yet been mistaken Away with these deluding hopes There is Death in the Pot. There is Ruin and Destruction and Plague and Hell and Misery in these Fancies and Imaginations God must be true to his Word and it is not all your Crys at last Lord Lord open to us that will help you or reverse your doom Heaven and Earth shall sooner Perish the Sun shall sooner fall from his Orb and all the Stars of Heaven drop out of their Sockets sooner than God will prove a Lyar. Let the Truth of the living God prevail with you and be persuaded to act like reasonable Creatures Nothing proclaims your unreasonableness more than to think God will save you whether you act according to his Word or no. Therefore whatever the World or your Flesh and Appetite may suggest that God will not be so severe as he hath said he will remember that he who hath conquered Death and Hell hath protested Verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled Amen SERMON XX. St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven THere is nothing more agreeable to Christianity than Liberty and yet there is nothing more contrary to it If by Liberty be meant a freedom from all sinful Courses from the Power of Corruption from the Bondage of the Devil and after all from those tedious external Washings Purifications Sacrifices and distinctions of Meats and Drinks c. so usual so famous so strictly required of the Jews under the Mosaick Law to this Liberty Christianity is a Friend a Patron and Defender and this is of the very Essence of our Religion But if by Liberty be understood Licentiousness and that which should be a modest Virgin is drawn and represented in the looser habit of a Strumpet and Men fancy they are and cannot be free except they have Elbow-room in Sin and may gratifie their Senses and carnal Desires as they please If this be the notion of Liberty Christianity is a professed Enemy to it and declares an Eternal War against it It is a very wilful and notorious mistake to think Christ came to free us from Obedience or that he descended from Heaven to loose us from the Bonds of our Duty so far from it that he came to require it upon greater Motives and enjoined it with greater Sanctions pressed Observance not only of the greater but lesser Commands and in case of failure declared that we shall find we have a God to deal with who will not be mocked for so it is in the Text Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least c. To give you the sense of these words 1. By the Commandements here spoken of are meant the Commands and Precepts delivered and laid down by Christ in this Sermon on the Mount both those that go before the Text and those that follow after it and therefore it is emphatically said these Commandements i. e. These I am now delivering to you and which lie so much out of the common road of Practice that few believe they are concerned in them 2. They are called little Commandements and the least not that any Command of God in Scripture is so in it self or in the nature of a Trifle but because they were so in the Opinion of the Scribes and Pharisees and the People of that Age who either called the Commandements of the Ceremonial Law the greatest and those of the Moral the least or if they allowed the Title of great Commands to any part of the Moral Law it was to such Commands as forbid the more scandalous and barbarous Sins i. e. Thou shalt do no Murther This they called a great Commandement but thou shalt not be angry with thy Brother without Cause nor revile him nor abuse him nor give him ill Names and opprobrious Language c. These they called little and the least Commands Counsels rather than Commands the Omission of which they thought would be no way prejudicial to the Eternal Welfare of their Souls 3. To break these little or least Commandements and to teach Men so was the Sin of the Pharisees who not only neglected these Commands of God themselves but taught others too not to discompose themselves about the neglect of them as long as they kept close to the bigger Commands such as Sacrificing Circumcision frequenting the Passover putting on their Phylacteries c. or such as enjoined forbearance of the Overt Acts of some notorious Sins Adultery Fornication Perjury Stealing c. And to break these Commandements is to slight them to disregard them to act contrary to them and wilfully to do what they forbid or wilfully to omit what they do enjoin 4. To be called or to be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven though this Phrase Matth. xi 11 is used to describe a Person that is an Infant a Babe a Novice a young beginner in Christ's Religion who is sensible and knows indeed that Christ's Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom but knows it in a very low degree and is therefore said to be greater in some respect than St. John the Baptist who from the vulgar Error of his Country seem'd to cherish some relicks of that Opinion that the Messiah was to appear with External Pomp and marks of Authority But though this be the meaning of that Phrase there yet what is a Comparison in that Place is a Threatning here and therefore requires another Sense And it being spoken with Allusion to breaking these least Commandements and by way of Retaliation that as they sinn'd in that which was the least so they should be rewarded with being the least in the last day it must necessarily be as much as being excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven Whether by the Kingdom of Heaven we understand the Kingdom of Grace or the Kingdom of Glory And though the Church be sometimes called the Kingdom of Heaven as Matth. xiii Yet even in this Sense the Threatning will appear to be dismal enough for the meaning will be that such a one as breaks these least Commandements will be can be no true no living Member of the Church of Christ and if so he can be no Heir of the Kingdom of Glory And hence it is that St. Chrysostom renders the word least by no body or nothing i. e. He shall be nothing in the Kingdom of Heaven and will be a very despicable contemptible Creature when Christ shall come in Glory 5. And from hence it will be easie to guess what must be the import of the Promise that 's added here But whosoever shall do and teach
must this be to be so concerned for your good Works A Father your Father so great a Father A Father that dwells on high to humble himself and stoop to look upon your good Works and withall declare his willingness to accept of them surely this is self-denial infinite For him that is higher than the Heaven Higher than the Highest Higher than the greatest Potentates to vouchsafe a favourable Aspect to your good Works surely this must this should one would think prevail with many of you who retain some Sense of your Duty Nay and he is therefore said to be in Heaven to let you see where you shall be and whither you shall go when you leave this World having let the Light of your good Works shine before Men even into that Heaven where himself is adored by Angels and all the Morning Stars sing together where his own infinite Felicity fills all that are about his Throne with Joys and Ravishments unspeakable And therefore suffer this word of Exhortation and let your Light so shine before Men that others may see your good Works and Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven SERMON XVIII St. Matth. Ch. v. Ver. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil CHRIST having in the foregoing Discourse open'd and laid down the true Nature of the Christian Religion what it imports and what Qualifications it challenges and what Temper it requires and told us that a Christian is a Person Humble and concern'd for his own and other Men's Sins Meek and earnestly desirous of high degrees of Holiness Merciful and kind and Pure in Heart and of a peaceable and peace-making Disposition and Patient under Injuries and in his Affliction comforting himself with the Rewards of Heaven and the Blessings of Eternity and ready to do good and profitable and useful both to the Souls and Bodies of other Men I say having laid down these Characters as Essential to a Christian to a Disciple of the Holy Jesus He now goes on not only to let his Disciples see how much of the Old Religion he intended to adopt into his own which he was going to publish but to enforce the Duties he had mention'd from the Law and from the Prophets shewing that in prescribing the aforesaid Rules and Directions he was so far from contradicting the Law and the Prophets that he spoke their Sense and Meaning and that this was not to call them away from an Esteem and Veneration of the Law and the Prophets but to increase it and that what the Law and the Prophets had but obscurely hinted he was come to explain more largely and to deliver more clearly and to press with greater Motives and Arguments Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil In the Explication of which Words these four Things do naturally offer themselves to our Consideration I. What the Law and the Prophets are II. What it was that rais'd a Suspicion or made People think and fear That Christ came to destroy the Law and the Prophets III. How it appears That he came not with that intent IV. How he fulfill'd the Law and the Prophets I. What the Law and the Prophets are 1. By the Law and the Prophets are meant the Doctrine contained in the Books of the Old Testament call'd by various Names in Holy Writ sometimes the Law in general Joh. x. 34 sometimes Moses and the Prophets Luke xvi 31 sometimes the Law of Moses the Prophets and the Psalms Luke xxiv 44 sometimes the Scripture Joh. v. 39 sometimes the Book of the Lord Isai. xxxiv 16. sometimes the Law and the Prophets as here because this Book consists not only of the Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sina for the Instruction and Edification of the Jewish People but the Writings of other Men also Men inspired by the Holy Ghost who writ either in a Historical or Dogmatical or Prophetical way strictly so called by way of foretelling things to come even as the Spirit of God which governed their Thoughts and Pens thought fit to dictate to them for the use of the Church or Gods People The Law of Moses is as it were the Text the other Books are in the nature of Comments They are called the Law and the Prophets not as if the Law were not written by a Person inspired but the Law is named distinctly either because the Law had some peculiar marks of Divinity in it as appears from the circumstances of its Publication or because it was written by a Prophet of a higher Order and such was Moses Exod. xxxiv whose Prophetick Office God doth distinguish from that of other Persons moved by the Holy Ghost or because the principal part of the Books of Moses the Ten Commandements are said to be written by the Finger of God which gives the Law a special Priviledge so that both the Law and the Prophets came from God only the Law had something more Majestick than ordinary in it and therefore deserves to be named by it self This Law of Moses consists of Commands of a very different Nature Some are the result of natural Justice and Equity of the Eternal Law imprinted on the Souls of Men of the Law of Nature or of right Reason and Deductions from the common Notions of God and of his Perfections and the Relation we stand in toward him and toward one another the summary whereof is the Decalogue or the Ten Commandements Another sort of Commands in that Law relates to the outward manner of Gods Worship and to external Ceremonies to Gifts and Sacrifices and Meats and Drinks and divers washings and carnal Ordinances imposed on the Jewish People until the time of the Reformation Heb. ix 9 10. And these Commands are purely positive depending altogether upon the Will and Pleasure of the Law-giver and therefore alterable and mutable as Occasion and Time and Necessity and the Reason of things c. require and this is commonly stiled the Ceremonial Law A third sort hath Relation to Policy and Government made up partly of Rules issuing from natural Justice and Equity partly of Constitutions such as the Nature and Temper of the People and the Situation of the Country and the Neighbourhood of the Nations who dwelt round about them and the danger of being infected by them and the Circumstances they were in did suggest commonly call'd the Civil or Judicial Law 2. These three sorts of Commands given by God to Moses made up the Digests the Pandects or the Body of the Jewish Law and that 's it that 's commonly understood by that known and frequent Expression in Scripture especially the New Testament the Law it 's written in the Law or the Law saith c. even the complex of all these Laws given at the Command of God by Moses to the Jewish People and as such they did particularly oblige the
dictate of the Law of Nature were strangely averse from all Oaths whatsoever insomuch that Clinias the Pythagorean when he might have escaped the Mulct or Penalty of three Talents which is about 8000 Pounds Sterling if he would but have Sworn though there was no Temptation to a false Oath in the Case yet would not and chose rather to submit to the Penalty than wrong as he thought his Conscience But it were to be wish'd that all Mankind were so honest that every Man's Word were as good and as firm as the most solemn Oath yet considering the Corruption that hath overspread the World the Rules of Justice and Righteousness and the good of Mankind make an Oath sometimes absolutely necessary because Justice and Equity and the good of Societies cannot be compassed without it As to Christ's saying But I say unto you swear not at all I shall tell you the sense and design of it when I come to explain it in Order and whatever Strictness not only many of the primitive Believers but some Pious Heathens have professed in this kind It is certain St. Paul who could not but know his Master's Mind did upon extrâ—ordinary occasions make use of these Religious Asseverations for what are those Expressions of his we meet with Rom. i. 9 2 Cor. i. 23 2 Cor. xi 31 Gal. i. 20 I call God for a Record upon my Soul God is my witness Behold before God I lye not I say what are all these but solemn Oaths and therefore it cannot be altogether unlawful for a Christian to use them upon some Occasions not to mention that the Gospel doth not reverse the Law of Nature and I have shew'd before that the Law of Nature hath taught most civiliz'd Nations to have recourse to them in things doubtful and since it was lawful under the Law of Moses I see no reason why it should not be so under the Gospel not only because Controversies and doubtful Cases will arise as much now as formerly but because an Oath was no part of the Ceremonial Law and consequently cannot be said to be abolish'd There is no doubt things so solemn so sacred so serious as Oaths ought to be us'd but seldom to make a Trade of it is the readiest way to Perjury The familiarity takes off from the solemnity of the thing and then there is an easy slip into Perjury And therefore it may not be amiss here to prescribe certain Rules and Limits and to shew when and where and upon what occasions an Oath the taking of an Oath may be lawful 1. When the Magistrate or the Powers which are set over us by Providence do command it This is the import of Exod. xxii 11 and this is part of that Obedience we owe to our Superiors who are Ministers to us for good and do not bear the Sword in vain Among the Jews the Magistrate might command an Oath to be taken Numb v. 19 21 and why not among Christians 2. It must be in things doubtful and where there is no other way to come to any Certainty but by an Oath which even Men of a loose Life if they have not thrown off all Religion will stand in awe of according to what the Apostle intimates Heb. vi 16 3. In a Thing of great Moment They that make Men Swear about Trifles as they have no great sence of Religion so they consider not the Nature and End of an Oath In Matters trivial where the gain or loss of either side is inconsiderable all wise and good Men have ever look'd upon pressing or taking an Oath as unlawful it being too sacred a thing to be used in Things mean and contemptible St. Paul made use of it as we said before but it was in Things relating to God and the Souls of Men and the good of Christian Societies 2 Cor. i. 23 The wiser Heathen thought it lawful in three Cases only 1. If it were to avoid Infamy and Disgrace and consequently rendring ones self incapable of serving the Publick 2. If it were to save a Man's Life or to free him from some considerable Danger 3. If the good of the Community or the common good of the Country Men are Members of did require it But in Money-businesses between Man and Man they thought it more Conscientious to be a loser than bring the Soul under the Obligation of an Oath and let it be consider'd whether such Men who exceed many Christians in strictness will not be their Judges in the last Day 4. In taking an Oath great simplicity must be used both in our Words and Intentions He that Swears to a thing which he either knows to be false or concerning which he is uncertain whether it be true or not deviates from this Simplicity and runs himself into the danger of Perjury and so doth he who by an Oath promises to do a Thing which he either doth not intend or endeavour to perform what he hath sworn to perform And of this Nature are all Mental Reservations and Equivocations in Oaths which is the reason why the Prophet requires us to Swear in Truth Jer. iv 2 The Temporal Inconveniencies that attend the performance of a lawful Oath do not make the Obligation less and therefore when David asks Who shall ascend unto the Hill of the Lord Psal. xv 1 he answers ver 4. He that swears to his own Hurt and changes not i. e. He that after he hath given his Oath finds the performance will be prejudicial to his Interest and yet will not alter the Word that is gone out of his Lips And this is agreeable to the simplicity we speak of 5. If an Oath be taken it must be in Things lawful not forbidden either by the Law of Nature or by Revelation i. e. the Reveal'd Will of God in the Scripture for this were to offer Things abominable to God more abominable than cutting off a Dog's-Neck or sacrificing Swines-flesh to make use of the most Holy Thing in things contrary to his Holiness This would be to set God against himself to make him witness to our Impieties and to get him to Patronize what his purer eyes abhor And therefore the Command is that we are to Swear in Righteousness Jer. iv 2 6. The Thing we Swear to do must be Possible and in our own Power either natural or adventitious and coming from the Spirit of God Impossibilities are no part of the matter of an Oath whether they be natural Impossibilities such as it is to turn a Blackamoor White or to make an Oxe speak or actual as that a Man who is at London to Day should be the same Day at York or in Law as for a Mayor of a Town to make an itinerant Judge or a Baron or Chancellor of the Kingdom the Law giving him no right There needs no store of Arguments to prove That such Impossibilities are no Ingredients of an Oath for they would make an Oath ridiculous and discover the Swearer to
Connection And therefore I conceive the antient Expositors of the Law contracted what Moses had said into this Motto Whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment 2. What is said here of Killing is meant of killing a Man and hath respect to the sixth Commandment Thou shalt do no Murder By which Law as the killing of Beasts for Man's use could not be intended nor destroying venomous and noxious Animals nor executing of Malefactors by order of the Magistrate nor depriving Men of their Lives in a just and lawful War but an unjust depriving a Man of his Life so there was a punishment suitable annex'd to the breach of that Law which Punishment was to be ordered and inflicted by the Magistrate and so far as the Law of God given by Moses went all was right and just and reasonable but here the Masters of Tradition had made a Distinction that if a Man had hired another to kill his Neighbour or had let loose a wild Beast upon him whereby he died the Magistrate was not to inflict the Punishment of Death upon him but he was to be left to the extraordinary Judgment of God but if he killed him in Person either by a Sword or by a Stone or by some other Weapon then the Magistrate was to execute the Penalty appointed by the Law of Moses upon him but this was not all for they taught moreover that though a Person who killed another was liable to capital Punishments yet the Wrath the Anger and the Malice that prompted him to it was a thing that deserved no Punishment and therefore this was not a thing to be feared and here came in Tradition which mis-interpreted the Law of Moses though it stands to Reason that he who forbids a Sin at the same time doth forbid the occasion of it and all such things as do naturally lead to the Commission of it 3. Our Saviour to shew that Wrath and Anger and Malice and reproachful Language were liable to Punishment as well as Murder and that God would certainly lash them as well as the greater Enormities takes notice of several degrees of unjust Wrath and Anger The first is a sudden Effervescence or Boyling up of the Blood or some violent Agitation and Commotion of the Passions upon a frivolous occasion and therefore adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without sufficient Cause which though it be not in some Copies yet must necessarily be understood here not denying but that Anger in some Cases may be lawful but shewing withal that if the occasion of the Anger be slight and trivial and the Anger even in a lawful Cause be excessive and going beyond its just Bounds it provokes God's heavy Displeasure But then if this secret Anger within or the first boyling over of the Blood proceeeds farther to contemptuous Words and that a Man in Wrath and Malice gives his Neighbour reproachful Language despising and undervaluing him by using Expressions and Names which wound his Reputation intimated by the Word Rakah i. e. vile and worthless Wretch though I am apt to believe that an angry and threatning noise and posture is chiefly meant by that Word in this Case the Sin rises higher and becomes greater and consequently deserves a severer Judgment but then if this Anger mounts higher yet and from an angry threatning Posture and Noise which betrays Wrath and Indignation it proceeds to the calling our Neighbour Fool i. e. wicked and reprobate Wretch deserving the eternal Anger both of God and all good Men which is the meaning of the Word Fool in the Proverbs of Solomon as the Sin becomes more heinous by this Aggravation so the Punishment of it in the other World will be greater yet 4. What our Saviour saith here of a certain Gradation of Punishments due to the several Lusts and degrees of Wrath and Anger Judgment Council Hell Fire must be understood of Penalties in the next World yet with allusion to the degrees of Punishment among the Jews in this Life Now among the Jews there were three degrees of publick Infamy according to the nature of the Punishment inflicted on Men for their Crimes and the more publick the Punishment was the greater was the Infamy If an Offender were brought before the Court of Three and twenty which was an inferiour Court of Judicature called here being guilty of the Judgment and there condemn'd he was infamous and a great Disgrace it was to him but in a lower degree If he were brought before the Sanedrin or the Great Council of the Nation consisting of LXX Elders in the nature of our Parliament and by them adjudged to Death the Infamy and Disgrace was greater Yet if lastly a Man were condemn'd to be burnt in the Valley of Hinnon or Tophet where all the Trash and Filth of the City of Jerusalem the Garbage and dead Carcasses were burnt and where antiently they offered their Children to Moloch and where a perpetual Fire was kept to consume all things that were offensive and nauseous and which by the Jews themselves was look'd upon as an Emblem of Hell Fire the Infamy was greatest of all According to these degrees of Infamy here on Earth Christ shews there will be degrees of Punishment for the several degrees of unjust and unlawful Anger in the other World for most certainly this Threatning cannot be understood with respect to this Life there being no such thing inflicted upon Men for Anger and reproachful Names on this side the Grave and whereas the Jews were generally afraid chiefly of Punishments in this Life Christ thought sit to acquaint them and us that we had far greater reason to be afraid of the Punishments in the next as more dreadful and more grievous than any they could fear here on Earth And this is the meaning of the Commination in the Text Whosoever c. From the Words thus explained arise these following Truths I. Antiquity is no warrant for erroneous Doctrines and Practices II. Murder is a Crime which the Magistrate must by no means suffer to go unpunish'd III. Wrath and Anger without a just Cause hath its degrees and according to the degrees of the Sin the Punishment in the next World will be proportionable 1. Antiquity is no warrant for erroenous Doctrines and Practices The Scribes and Pharisees here pretended that what they taught and practis'd concerning the sixth Commandment was deliver'd to them by them of old Time But our Saviour shews that this pretence could be of no use to them but rather betray'd than cover'd their Nakedness Error pleads Antiquity as well as Truth and though nothing be more antient than Truth for it is from Eternity and before ever Error appear'd in the World Truth had the universal Monarchy yet Error is as ancient as the Fall As soon as the Apostate Angels forsook their Habitation and Integrity together Error began to shew it self which soon spread it self through the habitable World when Man tempted by the Devil consented to his false
to subdue the disorderly Motions of the Flesh to stop our Ears against the blandishments of the World If all of you have not taken both these Oaths I mean the Baptismal and the Eucharistical I hope the greater part of you have Now it hath been said by them of old Time God hath said it and Christ hath said it and the Gospel saith it nay Nature says Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths In the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper your Oath is voluntary you cannot complain it is imposed upon you against your Will and therefore you have no excuse You voluntarily call God to witness and the great Saviour of the World and all the Angels that stand round the Altar to witness and all the Congregation to witness that you will be faithful to the Holy Trinity that God shall be your Governour and Christ your King and the Holy Spirit your Guide that you will resolutely depart from Iniquity that Sin shall not reign in you that Corruption shall no longer have dominion over you that you will serve him who gave his Son to die for you that you will conscientiously obey him who laid down his Life for you and that you will submit to the blessed Breathings and Motions of the Holy Ghost and that as you are bought with an inestimable Price and are not your own so you will behave your selves like Persons who are entirely at God's disposal Search your Hearts my Friends and examine your Lives Are these Oaths observed Are these Engagements kept Are these solemn Promises fulfilled Do you make Conscience of the Stipulation If you do not do you think God sits like an idle Spectator of your Perjuries What can keep you in awe if Oaths cannot How desperate must your Condition be if after this solemn League and Pacification with God you wallow in your former Sins again How shall ye be cured of the Phrensie of Sin if you will not be tyed by this treble Cord where Father Son and Holy Ghost are call'd in as Witnesses and judges of your Treachery How can God trust you again if you make a shift to break through these Fences which one would have thought had been Security enough against the wildest Beasts in Nature I counsel thee that thou keep the King's Commandment and that because of the Oath of God saith Solomon Eccles. viii 2 Christians I counsel you all that you keep the Commandment of the King of Heaven and Earth and that because of the Oath of God Thy Vows are upon me O God I will render Praises unto thee saith David Psal. lvi 12 The Oath of God is upon thee O Christian thou hast Sworn and promised to perform that Oath in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist thy Lips have said or thy Heart hath resolved to keep his Righteous Judgments not to be sloathful in the business of Religion but fervent in Spirit rejoicing in Hope patient in Tribulation continuing Instant in Prayer distributing to the necessity of Saints given to Hospitality to bless them that curse you to pray for them that despitefully use you and to tread in the steps of the Lord Jesus If one Man sin against another the Judge will Judge him but if a Man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him said Old Eli 1 Sam. ii 28 In breaking your Sacramental Oaths you sin directly against the Lord you profane the Sacrament fling the Holy Bread and Wine as it were upon a Dunghil and cast those Pearls before Swine and who shall entreat for you It 's true there is an Intercessor that sits at the right Hand of God to intercede but for whom doth he do that kind Office Is it not for those that follow and obey him that their imperfect yet sincere Obedience may be accepted Men that despise the Oath of God come not within the compass of those powerful Intercessions till a deep Remorse doth change them I would stand upon Mount Gerizim and dismiss you with a Blessing but the Anger of God against Perjury being so very great to fright you from the very Appearances of it and to oblige you to perform unto the Lord your Oaths I must step over to Mount Ebal and conclude with that Commination denounced against Zedekiah Ezek. xvii 18 19. Seeing he hath despised the Oath by breaking the Covenant when loe be had given his Hand and hath done all these things he shall not escape Therefore thus saith the Lord God as I live surely mine Oath that he hath despised and my Covenant that he hath broken even it will I recompence upon his own Head SERMON XXIX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 34 35 36. But I say unto you swear not at all neither by Heaven for it is God's Throne nor by the Earth for it is his Footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the Great King neither shalt thou swear by thy Head because thou canst not make one Hair white or black SO strangely doth corrupt Nature lean toward things forbidden that if by God or by the Stings of Conscience driven from a strong Hold of a certain Sin it will then sculk and hide it self in Holes and Caves and Dens for a while at least till the Storm be gone If Men cannot enjoy the satisfaction of the whole Sin they 'll be content with half of it and if that be denied them too they 'll seek to retain at least some little Portion of it and being driven out of Sodom take shelter in some Zoar in a word do any thing rather than part with all When Pharaoh saw he must of necessity let the Children of Israel go he fell to making Bargains The Men may go but the Flocks and Children and the little ones shall stay behind It is so with an unregenerate Man that hath severe Checks and Convictions of Conscience upon him He is spoiled for an open Sinner but is not made a Saint is sensible he must not Sin and yet hath no Courage to be a true Convert He is content such a dreadful Sin he hath been guilty of should go but so fond is he of the Garment spotted by the Flesh that he will lay hold on the Skirts and the little ones shall stay behind if he cannot have what he would have It was so particularly with the Jews in Christ's time They were sensible that Swearing in their common Discourses directly by the living God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Martial corruptly expresses by Anchialum I say being sensible that Swearing in their ordinary Communications by the living God carryed something of Horrour with it was dreadful and hainous and black and an Insolence Great and Abominable and therefore were content some of them at least to forbear it but their Mouths being used to Swearing something they must have in lieu of it and though they were willing to quit the greater Profanation yet the lesser they thought would do no harm and therefore they
Except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it Ps. cxxvii 1 2. How much more must this hold in Spiritual And therefore Christian since the Eyes of all do wait upon that God that gives them their Meat in due Season behold the Rock from which thy Water of Life must flow Thy Faith is weak go to him and he will make it mount up with Wings as Eagles Thy hope is faint run to him and he will give it Life and Spirit Thy Love wants Fire address thy self to him and he will enflame it Thy Charity languishes apply thy self to him and he will breathe Vigour and Activity into it Thy resistance of Temptations is feeble follow him with fervent Tears and Prayers and he will make thee bold as a Lyon Happy that Soul that is truly sensible of her weakness this sense will make her breathe and pant after the Living God When I am weak then am I strong saith St. Paul 2 Cor. xii 10 i. e. when I am most sensible of my weakness God follows and blesses me with greater Strength God loves to manifest his Power in our Weakness and the weaker we are I mean so as to be sensible of it and make it a motive to earnest Prayer the fitter we are for God's fortifying Grace For you see your calling Brethren God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the World to confound the things which are mighty c. 1 Cor. i. 26 27 28. Hence arises the Glory of God's Grace and that joyful acknowledgment of St. Paul and all good Men By the Grace of God I am what I am Every true Believer finds this by Experience and joyfully sings with the Royal Prophet as it is Psal. lxxxiv 11 12. The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will be withhold from those that walk uprightly Blessed be God who is both ready and willing and hath promised over and over to give his enlightning strengthning sanctifying comforting and assisting Grace to the hungry and thirsty Soul that calls upon him in Truth For this Cause as the Apostle did for the Colossians Col. i. 9 10 11. We will not cease to pray for you all and to desire that you may be filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisdom and spiritual Understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and encreasing in the knowledge of God strengthen'd with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all long-suffering and patience with joyfulness SERMON XXX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 37. But let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil CHRIST having in the foregoing Verses declar'd all Swearing except it be in Cases of very great Necessity and Weight and Moment altogether unlawful and utterly condemn'd not only Swearing by the supream Being in common Discourses but particularly Swearing by the Creatures as a thing horrid and dreadful and not to be suffered among his Disciples he proceeds and lets us see what decency modesty sincerity and simplicity is to be observed in our Communications and Speeches such especially as relate to Promises and Bargains and the ordinary Affairs of the World And whereas Men might object that they had used themselves to Swearing in their Discourses and therefore could not leave it he passes by that Objection as frivolous and childish and silly and not worth taking notice of supposing that he who hath learned an evil Custom if he will use the proper Means may unlearn it again and to be sure will most heartily abandon it if he be a true Disciple of the Gospel and seriously touch'd with a sense of another Life and the weight and importance of Christ's Doctrine Taking no notice I say of this common Objection he peremptorily declares what he expects of his Followers with respect to their Discourses Speeches Answers and Communications and Colloquies with their fellow Christians But let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil Where we have First A Precept Secondly The Reason of it The Precept But let your Communication be yea yea The Reason For whatsoever is more than these comes of evil We begin with the Precept and that imports three Duties With respect to our Speeches and Discourses Constancy Veracity and Plainness 1. Constancy as it is opposed to Saying and Unsaying in which sense we find the Expression used by St. Paul 2 Cor. i. 17 When I therefore was thus minded did I use lightness or the things that I purpose do I purpose according to the Flesh that with me there should be yea yea and nay nay i. e. yea and nay lightness fickleness inconstancy and unsteddiness in Promises saying one thing this Hour and another the next 2. Veracity as it is opposed to Falshood and Lying and in this place also we find the Apostle uses this Phrase 2 Cor. i. 20 For all the Promises of God are yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us i. e. They are firm immovable not so much as a shadow of Falshood mingles with them and Heaven and Earth shall sooner sink and be dissolv'd than these Promises shall fail 3. Plainness as it is opposed to Oaths and strong Asseverations which is the thing directly aimed at by our Saviour here and hath respect chiefly to our Promises to Men and imports that we are to content our selves with bare Negatives and Affirmatives and such Affirmations and Negations that People may depend upon them as much as if we had confirmed them with an Oath Not but that if the thing be Weighty and of great Moment some Asseveration may be added such as Verily Amen of a Truth I say unto you as we see Christ himself doth in the Gospel where the Souls and the Salvation of Men are concern'd but in ordinary Affairs or things relating to our Business Calling and Employment Bargains and Negotiations in all Discourses and Speeches and Promises of this Nature not only great Veracity but bare Affirmations and Negations are the Things which become us as we are Christians and profess our selves Followers of the best of Masters So that when it is said here Let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay the meaning is not that in our Answers and Discourses we must use no Words whatsoever but only yea and nay according as the Question is which is ask'd us That 's contrary to Christ's Practice and the Apostles Example which are the best Comment on the Text. No doubt we may Discourse with our Neighbours as long as we think fit and say as much as is needful to the purpose But 1. The general intent is to teach us that to avoid greater Sins we are to shun the lesser To avoid Swearing in Discourse we must
Let 's earnestly labour after Perfection and that none may ask what Perfection is It is no other no less no meaner Perfection that what is pressed in the Text Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect This Perfection to give a fuller account of it relates 1. To the kinds of Graces 2. To the degrees of Grace 1. To the kinds of Graces Endeavour after Perfection appears in nothing so visibly as in our serious endeavours after the several Graces which make up the Wedding-Garment spoken of in the Gospel and the charming Ornament of Christ's Spouse Not only one but all must appear very lovely in our Eyes If one seems amiable and the rest are nauseated the Heart is not right with God We must not content our selves with being liberal to the Poor and Needy but Meekness and Humility and love of Enemies and overcoming the Evil with Good must be as heartily espoused as the other To this purpose is that Command of St. Peter 2 Pet. i. 5 Add to your Faith Vertue unto Vertue Knowledge unto Knowledge Temperance unto Temperance Patience unto Patience Godliness unto Godliness Brotherly-kindness and unto Brotherly-kindness Charity c. There is indeed a great stress on some particular Vertues and particularly on Almsgiving and there are such lofty things said of it that the unwary Reader will be apt to think he need do no more in order to Salvation But though God's special favour and esteem of such a Vertue is set down by way of Motive and Encouragement yet it 's certain it 's no where said that such a Vertue alone will suffice in order to eternal Happiness and when the rest are injoyn'd with as great severity as this it must necessarily follow that the rest are equally necessary The Pharisees indeed had an Opinion that if a Man did exercise himself in any one Command though he neglected the rest he would not fail of a blessed Portion in the Life to come But this plainly contradicts the Christians Rule which is Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John xv 14 and it 's to be fear'd that where the Obedience is partial the Plant cannot be or is not of our Heavenly Father's Planting The Stoicks which held that he who had one Vertue had all the rest were so far in the right that he who upon a good Principle out of love to Goodness applies himself to one Vertue is in a disposition to be Master of the rest if he pursues that Principle but to think that all the rest will fall in in course to him who by frequent acts shews he is pleased with one is what Experience confutes and Reason tells us cannot be except the same Industry be used to attain to the rest that was used in the pusuit of that we have made a considerable progress in 2. This Perfection must be seen in the degree of those Graces we are possessed of A lower degree must be raised into a higher Faith which is like a Grain of Mustard-see must be advanced into a spreading Shrub so must Hope so must Love so must Charity so must other Graces The Acts must be improv'd into Habits and the tender Plant must become Robust till it can bear the Injuries of Wind and Weather The beginnings of a Vertue are Incouragements to proceed in it he that doth not doth not grow strong in the Lord and consequently doth not endeavour after Perfection 3. This Perfection reaches farther yet even to doing of such things as are more perfect There are divers Actions which seem to have no great hurt in them and yet it is certainly a more perfect act to abstain from them This is to be observed particularly in Eating and Drinking in Dressing and Cloathing in Speeches and Discourses and Visits in Conversation and Company in Sports and Recreations c. Such a Jest eating of the other Dish drinking the third Glass playing for Company 's sake such a gaudy Dress c. may seem harmless but it is greater Perfection to forbear them so in doing good it is many times greater Perfection to do such an act of Charity than to forbear it In all which Cases a Christian who follows our Saviour's Rule in the Text will have a special regard to what is more perfect and therefore more pleasing to God In such Particulars as these consists the Christian Perfection which here we are exhorted to labour after but I can have but little hopes that you will exercise your selves toward this Perfection except you were very resolute to make use of the proper means which are these following 1. A mighty ambition after Spiritual things as great an ambition to be truly Good and Holy as others have to be rich and great in the World 2. A vigorous consideration of the future degrees of Glory according to the progress you make here He that meditates much of these degrees will find in himself a vehement desire after such degrees of Sanctity as the most perfect Persons have attain'd to 3. A fervent Love of the Lord Jesus such a Love as we find in St. Paul in St. John in Mary the Sister of Martha c. a love which must rise from the strong Impresses made upon the Soul by the Sufferings of Christ and his Love in descending from Heaven and dying for us 4. A lively representation of what God hath done for us both in Spirituals and Temporals for this will mightily inflame the Soul and put her upon doing any thing which he delights in 5. An attentive Consideration of the Title in the Text where God is called Our Father which is in Heaven an Epithet often repeated and therefore often to be thought of If we are his Children what should we do but imitate him that being the nature and duty of Children that do not bear that name in vain He is in Heaven this speaks his Greatness We see how Great Men prevail with us to do things even contrary to our Inclination And shall not he who is the greatest of all Influence our Resolution to be Perfect as he himself is Perfect Moreover he is in Heaven and from thence looks down upon us It is his condescension that he doth so and that condescention ought to be a Motive to this Perfection He looks down upon us to see how we improve our Talents if we do not he notes our Guilt in his Book where it will stand as a Witness against us And he is said to be in Heaven to let us see the place which we are to be receiv'd into if we be Perfect and truly endeavour after it Thither he intends to draw us to the same Kingdom where himself Reigns and where Christ our Head Reigns And is this no Argument to stir us up to this Perfection I do not mention Prayer as a means because we still suppose that what-ever helps we offer all are insignificant without fervent Prayer And thus we have chalk'd out